Thursday, August 3, 2017

Loggin' Like a Lumberjack!

FIXED IT! I said I would and I did, I lost my gain plus a little extra!

Pants are getting waaaaay more comfy as I pull them on in the morning (even right out of the wash) and rewears aren't really happening since they loosen up too much after one wear which means I'm heading into my normal size soon! Also noticing my front pooch is smoothing out and even on the hottest days my wedding rings slip comfortably on and off (unless I skip water drinking).

Today, wanted to share some insider tips about MyFitnessPal, a weight-loss tool I've been using for 10+ years now. Happy anniversary to us, MFP. Kisses.

Folks gain weight in different ways but for me, I gain because I easily lose control of which foods I put in my body and how much. MFP alleviates both these issues for me. Simply put, MFP gives me visibility to what happens to my body in a day. Sure, it tells me what I already know (who doesn't know what they eat in a day, right?) but the data helps me understandhow my choices add up.

So here are my tips for using this FREE tool no mater what your reason for not using it.
**Side note: no, this is not a sponsored post...I'm not that industrious, unfortunately. I just LOVE MFP!**

Use the bar scanner to skip typing in your food
and just write how many servings you had.

Ate the same breakfast yesterday as you did today? You can copy a past meal for super easy logging.

Eat the same thing as a friend? Same thing, you can copy someone else's entry so long as you're friends on MFP and only one of you has to log (rock, paper, scissors for it).

MFP syncs with your step-tracking device so you don't have to enter your steps manually. (I know, slow clap, but it wasn't always this way, folks! Remember I've been at this for 10+ years.) So
if you take a three-mile walk, it will give you
back those calories in your “calories remaining” so if you want you can spend them or you can let the deficit take you on a one way trip to
weight-loss land!

Start small. Log your water OR log just one meal per day, that's how I started.
I had an unhealthy/expensive coffee habit of high-calorie drink + pastry in the mornings. Logging showed me that some days I was consuming up to 600 calories before 8:00 a.m. leaving me hungry again at 10 o'clock for another substantial snack since my breakfast was so high in sugar and low on substance. Logging shed light on this and I now consume healthy, filling, 250-300 calorie breakfasts that keep me full all morning.

Bring or make friends! My friend Tiffany got me started way back when and she would check in every now and then to see how the logging was going and what started as begrudgingly tracking turned into a good habit. Also, there are A LOT of folks using this tool so ask around or do a friend search to connect with someone you know so you can encourage one another IRL or in MFP's commenting area. *BONUS* share your diary to add a layer of accountability AND to get meal ideas from others who share their diaries (I get GREAT ideas by reading my friends' logged food choices).

MFP has an awesome feature where at the end of each day you choose "complete entry" and it will show you something like this:

This is what I saw after yesterday's logging, a normal day where I ate all my calories for the day (no more no less) and I can see that in five weeks I could be down 15.5 lbs. I mean holy crap! That is MOTIVATING! That means tomorrow I will wake up, tediously log all my foods, take my puppers for a walk and plan to dance around the living room with my daughter for 15 minutes instead of laying next to her on the floor while she plays. This is by far my favorite feature of MFP so be sure to ALWAYS hit "complete my entry" when you finish logging.

I have some more tips that have been majorly helpful in helping me lose but I'm going to save those until next week so stay tuned! Can you beat me to the punch? What tips do you have for using MFP? What's your favorite feature you've found?

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About Me

The Megnificent Miles

The "Megnificent Miles" reference the proverbial distance I have to go to reach my goal of attaining a healthy weight. Lao Tzu said "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." This blog is my first step on what will be a long quest and I'm not stopping until I get there.